Challenge  to  Imperialism 


Manifesto  of  the 
Chinese  Students’  Alliance 
in  the  United  States  of  America 


Syracuse , New  York 

and 


Lafayette , Indiana 


September  12,  1925 


A Challenge  to  Imperialism 

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Manifesto  of  the  Chinese  Students’  Alliance 
in  the  United  States  of  America. 

In  the  course  of  human  events,  when  a nation  is  on  the  verge  ol 
achieving  her  salvation  by  breaking  off  the  slavish  yoke  of  imperialism, 
that  nation  owes  the  world  an  explanation.  For  this  reason,  we,  Chinese 
students  studying  in  the  United  States  of  America,  in  annual  convention 
assembled,  sharing  the  same  views  with  our  fellow  citizens  at  home,  do 
hereby  resolve  to  issue  the  following  declaration: 

Although  it  may  seem  that  resentment  for  the  accumulated  injuries 
to  our  country  and  a burning  ardour  for  her  glory  may  deprive  us  of 
the  detachment  which  the  infinite  importance  of  the  occasion  demands, 
yet  years  of  sufferance,  combined  with  an  earnest  desire  for  truth,  have 
made  us  stranger  to  all  passions — except  a passion  for  the  good  of 
humanity.  No  one  estimates  liberty  and  justice  more  highly  than  those 
who  do  not  possess  them.  It  is  in  a very  calm  and  sober  spirit  that 
we  appeal  to  the  justice  of  the  human  world  for  the  rectification  of  our 
wrongs. 

The  history  of  international  relations  of  the  past  century  is  a history 
of  the  conflict  between  imperialism  and  nationalism,  the  oppressor  and 
the  oppressed.  In  the  midst  of  this  great  human  struggle,  China  is  by 
no  means  an  exception.  For  the  last  eighty  years,  we  have  come  under 
the  domination  of  imperialistic  designs.  We  have  been  thrust  into  the 
rank  of  enslaved  races.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  our  country 
is  no  longer  a free  and  independent  state.  We  so  admit  because  we  have 
long  been  laboring  under  these  grievous  burdens  and  because  we  are 
firmly  determined  to  labor  under  them  no  more: 

Our  territorial  integrity  has  been  mutilated  by  the  great  Powers 
positively  through  cessions,  concessions,  leaseholds  and  settlements  and 
negatively  through  diverse  spheres  of  influence; 

Our  right  of  self-defense  has  been  denied  through  the  inhibition 
of  fortifying  our  strategic  points  by  the  great  Powers  and  through  the 
stationing  of  foreign  garrisons  in  our  ports  and  foreign  naval  vessels  on 
our  inland  waters; 

Our  administrative  entity  has  been  impaired  by  the  forced  appoint- 
ment of  foreign  advisers  by  the  great  Powers,  by  exterritorial  jurisdic- 
tion, and  postal  and  wireless  communications; 

Our  economic  freedom  has  been  restricted  by  the  conventional 
tariff,  by  the  control  of  our  tariff  administration,  salt  gabelle  and  other 
branches  of  our  financial  administration; 

Our  economic  freedom  is  further  hampered  by  invidious  provisions 
of  the  other  innumerable  economic  concessions. 

Consequently  we  have  been  suffering  under  foreign  economic 
exploitation,  we  have  been  treated  as  beasts  of  burden  and  we  have  been 
denied  even  the  mere  right  of  existence.  For  the  last  eitghy  years,  we 
have  been  governed  virtually  by  the  foreign  imperialists — by  their 
intemperance,  their  ignorance,  their  brutality.  In  a word,  we  have  been 
deprived  of  every  right  of  liberty,  equality  and  independence. 


In  order  that  we  may  freely  develop  our  national  life,  we  do  hereby 
solemnly  declare: 

That  the  Powers  must  restore  to  us  our  lawful  territory  including 
the  ceded  territories  of  Hongkong,  Maritime  Province,  Amur  Province, 
Macao  and  Formosa,  the  leaseholds  of  Port  Arthur  and  Dairen,  Wei-hai- 
wei,  Kwang-chow-wan  and  Kowloon  and  all  consessions  and  settlements; 

That  the  Powers  must  renounce  all  claims  to  the  so-called  spheres 
of  influence; 

That  the  Powers  must  withdraw  all  their  police  and  troops  from 
our  territory  and  their  naval  vessels  from  our  inland  waters; 

That  the  Powers  must  remove  the  restrictions  upon  our  right  of 
self-defense  with  regard  to  Teintsin,  Taku,  the  route  between  Peking 
and  the  sea  and  the  neutralized  territory  north  of  the  Kwantung 
Province; 

That  the  Powers  must  waive  all  the  special  privileges  which  inter- 
national law  does  not  sanction  but  are  now  enjoyed  by  the  Legation 
Quarters  at  Peking; 

That  the  Powers  must  give  up  their  extraterritorial  rights; 

That  the  Powers  must  abolish  the  present  conventional  tariff  and 
restore  to  us  our  tariff  autonomy; 

That  the  Powers  must  forfeit  their  claims  to  special  administrative 
advantages  regarding  the  customs  administration,  the  salt  gabelle,  and 
the  postal  and  wireless  administrations;  and 

That  the  Powers  must  revise  the  present  treaties  with  regard  to 
Tibet  and  Outer  Mongolia. 

This  is  a declaration  of  our  rights.  China  knows  no  salvation  until 
these  are  met.  Our  people  tried,  first  at  Versailles  and  later  at  Wash- 
ington, to  secure  the  readjustment  of  our  relations  through  the  hands 
of  the  diplomats.  But  our  supplication  only  produced  increased  viol- 
ence. Our  people  did  not  understand  that,  after  a century  of  servitude, 
a nation  can  only  be  regenerated  either  through  virtue  or  through  death. 

For  us,  believers  of  the  creed  of  nationalism,  the  lesson  is  plain. 
We  know  what  is  wanting  to  the  four  hundred  millions  of  people,  de- 
sirous of  emancipating  themselves,  is  not  power  but  faith.  We,  the 
young,  have  faith  in  our  nation,  united  for  a common  purpose.  The 
rising  of  China,  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  in  the  name  of  independence,  is 
invincible.  With  such  a power  and  such  a faith  as  ours,  we  might  easily 
make  the  French  Revolution  insignificant  and  the  Russian  Revolution 
a mere  trifle.  Let  the  imperialist  tremble  at  the  thought  of  a Chinese 
Revolution.  The  world  did  little  note  how  we  have  suffered  for  the  last 
eighty  years,  but  they  shall  never  forget  what  we  are  going  to  achieve 
in  the  near  future. 


September  12,  1925. 


Syracuse,  New  York  and 
Lafayette,  Indiana. 


